Sunday, July 31, 2016

DNC: 'Register to vote' garners more interest than 'Kim Kardashian' - at least for one night

Balloons rained down at the conclusion of the DNC.

I COULDN'T believe my eyes! During the last night of the Democratic National Convention, there were more people Googling "register to vote" than "Kim Kardashian."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Every once in a while, Views From the Edge delves into topics that are not AAPI-related.

By the time that Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton finished her speech, "register to vote' was almost double the searches for Kim.Perhaps that's a sign of change in our fickle country - at least those who Google. Just as I start to question the integrity of the American electorate, they go and do something like this. There's "hope!"

As soon Khizr Khan, whose son died a war hero in Iraq, finished speaking, "register to vote" spiked. His emotional speech offering his copy of the U.S. Constitution to Donald Trump and pointing out that the billionaire has "sacrificed nothing. No one!" was one of the highlights of an evening full of highlights.

Wednesday night (July 27), as President Obama finished his rousing endorsement of Hillary Clinton, "register to vote" spiked 190 percent, which it hadn't reached since the primaries.

One more Google metric, (and I'm sure Clinton's people and speechwriter will take note of this) when the candidate started talking about her family and the early part of her career, searches for "Hillary Clinton" rose, but dropped when she began bashing Donald Trump. It appears the "positive" parts of her speech provoked more interest than the negative.